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recipesSeptember 18, 2012

DIY homemade kombucha tea

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we at Mr. Kate LOVE kombucha! it settles our stress tummies, keeps us regular (pro-biotics) and perks up our energy… but it’s expensive to buy at the health food store, especially if you want to drink it every day, so we set out to DIY our own Kombucha! take it away Kalin…

kate and i ordered a SCOBY (which is the yeasty, bacterial, fungi that is supposed to evolve into this delicious beverage that is natures cure-all :/) via Etsy, and decided to brew some booch. thank you Kombuchakin for giving us the bag of mothers!

getting the bags of mothers was almost as frightening as exorcising the ghost in my kitchen. Kombuchakin provides explicit instructions on how to brew and not kill, the mother.

boil it (in purified water), brew it (Twinnings english breakfast tea, 100% black ), cool it (room temperature) – numbered step by step is at the bottom of this post.

add a 1/2 a cup of sugar. we used the vegan raw stuff from Whole Foods.

pour mom in the pool of tea.

use rubber bands and a washcloth or dishtowel and cover the booch for a good 10 days. or more. the more vinegary you want your booch, let it ferment longer.

after however many days you let yours reproduce and grow, soon to take over the world, you’ll notice. she’s multiplied. cue 80s horror movie music now. the bubbling yeasty jar of glory is almost ready to be consumed. doesn’t it look delicious!?!

filter out the SCOBYs making sure you don’t touch them with your dirty paws, and put them aside. be sure to save enough tea concoction to cover the moms. who wants pancakes now?

choose your ingredients. we did strawberry+mint. you could add ginger, lemongrass, apples, guavas…think of it as a virgin sangria with health benefits.

add the ingredients to the jar and stick it in the fridge for 2-3 days letting the juices and extracts steep into the tea.

after 2-3 days have gone by, pour your booch into a glass, sip and enjoy. notice that after a few days, your skin will glow, your insides will be functioning regularly, and your love life will greatly improve (these statements have not been approved by the FDA).

-kalin-bu-bu-bucha

and

– mr. kate scoby humper

Homemade Kombucha Tea Recipe

watch the video above for the full tutorial, and as with all DIY’s..do it at your own risk. as for the health benefits we also don’t really know if there are any because we aren’t doctors or scientists. there’s plenty of debate online and scientific research you can read for yourself if you really want to know more.

Prep It:

mother scoby aka the “kombucha starter” – order from Kombuchakin or other fine bacteria retailers

add 1/f cup of sugar per every half gallon of water to your tea and let dissolve.

once brewed, let your tea/sugar mix cool before adding it to the glass container with your mother scoby – you don’t want to burn and kill her!

cover the container with a washcloth or cheesecloth and let it sit in a temperate place – not too close to a stove or other heat source and not too cold. you can let your kombucha “brew” for 7 to 30 days, depending on the intensity of fermentation you want. the more fermentation, the more good bacteria etc. but also the stronger the ‘vinegar-y’ taste. we let ours ferment for 2 weeks and it tastes pretty intense but i love it! you can also dilute the kombucha with fresh filtered water to tone down the taste.

after at least 7 days of fermentation, you may decide to flavor your kombucha tea. you can do this with any kind of sliced fruit or ginger, etc. remove the mother scoby and store her in some extra tea in a temperate place – make sure the fruit is clean and sliced and add it to your kombucha for 1 to 2 days, depending on how intense you want the flavor. we used strawberries and mint leaves and let it sit for 2.5 days and it tasted great!

you can keep the momma scoby in some of the unflavored tea mixture in a glass container in a temperate place. she can be re-used for up to a few months. they also replicate so you can give some of your extra mom scoby to your friends!

I too am scared. "Killing the mother" doesn't sound like something to be taken lightly to be sure! But I know I love Kombucha. Can't afford a daily dose from Whole Foods. Love the idea of making my own. And...your photos make it look possible and strawberrily delish! Thanks for this. When I get up the nerve, or maybe after my mom peacefully passes I'll come back to your site and give it a whirl.

Just doing some research on kombucha and found your post--and I love your claims for the benefits. 😀 Also the strawberries and add-ins. Yum. I want to tell you though, that a still birth (stillbirth) is when a mother gives birth to a baby who has died. I think it quite shocking that a magazine would have printed that mistake, even as a quotation. She probably meant placenta. Very different. I had a stillbirth so I know first hand, believe me. 🙁 Thank you for all the great pictures. Inspiring.

Hi Natalia! I just re-read that quote from Rolling Stone and you're right, she probably meant a placenta. I don't like the reference to the still birth and I understand how it could be an unsettling reference for most. I removed that passage from the post because it irks me too. Thanks for your comment and hope you get to make your own Kombucha one day! xx

Don't be afraid of the mother she is pretty resilient. I don't use caffeinated tea and my mother grows eagerly. I find that as long as the sugar to water ratio is high enough (too low starves the mother) the brew works. I use dried rosehip, lemongrass & ginger with delish results. I love the idea of adding fruit to 2nd ferment will try that next batch. Thanks for sharing